


Not Alone

by lorb



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, F/M, One Shot, angus adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 23:38:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17755688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorb/pseuds/lorb
Summary: Magnus leaves for the showcase, but there is nothing to return to.This fic was inspired by the absolutely amazing art of dancynrew, the specific post will be linked before the start of the fic. They do not have any knowledge that I did this, but their art was so beautiful it struck me into a writing frenzy.Of note, this is an AU where Angus was from Raven's Roost, but otherwise is canon compliant (beside the implication of him being from there)





	Not Alone

The link to dnancynrew's post is [here](http://dancynrew.tumblr.com/post/165068100262/au-where-angus-was-a-baby-found-in-the-wreckage-of)!

 

* * *

 

 

“This chair smells like Grandmas.” Julia looks up from the detailed woodwork on the rocking chair to flash a soft smirk at Magnus.

“Ah well…. You smell like… I was going to say that you smell like Grandmas more, but that’s not true. You smell like,” Magnus comes up to her, breathes in deeply once, twice, and even a third time with his face pressed against hers as she laughs at his antics. “Like my wife.”

“I _am_ your wife.”

“Well, then, my sniff is working!” Magnus near snorts her hair as she shoves him away.

“Gross, you’re being weird.” But Julia is smiling and her hands linger on his arm even after he backs away. She lifts one to run it against the arm and nods with assurance. “You got this, Magnus. It’s beautiful… Even if it smells like Grandmas-”

“The Grandma smell is intentional! It was a _choice_ and I, for one, think everyone is going to-”

“You’re going to be gone so long.” Julia continues, used to his interjections. “Promise me you won’t forget about me?”

“You? How could I ever forget the most wonderful, most beautiful, most wife-smelling woman in the world?” Julia rises from the chair and hugs her husband.

“The cart is all ready. I’ll see you in less than a month.”

“Less than a month! It’ll go so fast you won’t even realize and then we can get back to… ughhh…” Magnus watches Steven work for a moment then returns his gaze to Julia, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“Gross.”

“Hey, you’re the one who wants a kid so quick-”

“And you’re the one who can’t keep it-”

“And both of you are the ones who need to say goodbye so Magnus can get going.” Steven says without turning around. His voice stern with the hint of a smile around it.

Julia leans her head up to kiss Magnus. “Less than a month. I love you Magnus.”

“I love you Jules.”

  
  


A tavern two days from Raven’s Roost, after a successful trip to the Showcase, finds Magnus Burnsides three ales in and gloating to anyone who will listen. In the middle of a far too detailed account of the joint work in a competitors coffee table, his ears catch a familiar sound. It’s that of home. Of Raven’s Roost where he so desperately misses the comforts of his mentor, the warmth of long time friends, the loving embrace of his wife and the promise of a growing family. He can’t stop himself from barrelling into the conversation.

“Hail and well met, friend!” Magnus claps an older, haggard man on the back. His face twists for a moment and returns to its solemn expression. Magnus continues none the wiser. “I was over there talking with some new buddies of mine and I couldn’t help but hear you say ‘Raven’s Roost!’ I happen to be from there and I was wondering if maybe…” But the man is shaking his head and his eyes have fallen from solemnity to pity. “What? Why are you so…?”

“Have you not heard? Raven’s Roost… I’m so sorry, it… well it fell.” The man sighs heavily. Magnus feels the fear rip through him and th image of Governor Kalen sits heavy on his mind. He must have come back hearing Magnus wouldn’t have been there. Magnus had failed to protect his home. Magnus had damned them. Magnus had-

“I need to go. My, my whole life is there! I have the shop and Steven, and my _wife!_ I need to-” Magnus scrounges through his bag to find the coin to pay for his drink- “I need to protect them-”

“There’s nothing to protect, son.”

“But you said it fell, Kalen took it back, right? They’re just-” Magnus throws the money onto the bar and collects his things in a mad rush. The man’s hand reaches out to slow him.

“No, no my boy, it _fell._ Kalen destroyed… he destroyed the support column.” Rubble. The shop a pile of debris slid down the cliff side. Julia alone and terrified.

“Which corridor?” Magnus refuses to slow down.

“I don’t know, but the town is cleared out by now. Everyone was afraid of more attacks- Son, you can’t go running off, you can’t help them-”

“I can and I will. I have to.” Magnus rushes the door. He at least has to try.

  
  
  
When he arrives at the town of Valforn he can already sense the unease. He knows which support column was bombed simply by the way people immediately divert their gaze. The town has become a refuge center, overrun with the former residents of Raven’s Roost all looking for a safe haven.

As he enters the inn, chatter dies off until the only sound is a baby whimpering in distress. Magnus looks about wildly, refusing to give up hope even though something deep in his soul knows that what he is looking for cannot be found, and will not ever be found again. He recognizes a face, the first to look into his eyes and not immediately glance away. Lettie, a friend of Julia’s who spent most of her time in another corridor. She looks overtired and her face and arms are covered in scratches.

“Did they make it out.” Magnus feels an anger like fire that unfurls throughout his chest.

“We’ve lost 76 people-”

“Let me try this again, Lettie. Did _she_ make it out.” The heat makes it to his fist as his knuckles go white from the strain of his fist.

“Magnus-”

“Where is she?”

“Magnus she didn’t-”

“How did she-” He tries to speak, he does, but the word refuses to materialize, as though not saying it will allow her to still be here, waiting around the corner with a new project or idea. “Was it- Did she-” It doesn’t matter how he phrases it. It won’t come out.

“She was with me, Magnus. I’m so sorry. We went to help and she heard the baby crying and she went into the rubble and it collapsed, she kept going in to try and help everyone, oh Magnus, I’m so so sorry.” The woman, her face filled with tears reaches out to comfort him, but Magnus moves away. The fire is in his eyes now.

“Where did you leave Julia’s body, Lettie. Where is my- Lettie where is my _wife?”_ His voice breaks. His breath hitches. He slams a fist into the nearest table and collapses into the chair. Nearby the baby screams. The heat emanates throughout his whole body, boiling him alive. There had never been a rage more righteous, more pain filled, more engulfing than the one that fills Magnus. His tears fall hot down his face. Lettie is talking to him but he can’t hear her words. The only thing his mind recognizes is the wailing of the infant in the corner of the room and an incessant need to fix his mistake. He would find Kalen and this time he would not let mercy cloud his judgement.

“I need a sword.” Magnus stands, taking in the room of people again. “Someone, give me a _fucking sword._ ” His hand claps down against the table. The room fills with tension and the echoes of the continued cry. “I’m going to murder that bastard Kalen, and I need someone’s damn sword to do it and will someone _shut that baby up._ ”

Magnus rushes the corner where a pale woman frantically rocks the distressed infant. The fire inside carries him across the room, for what reason beyond blind pain he doesn’t know, but when the soft brown eyes flash up to meet his, it instantly dies out. Magnus falls to his knees as his strength and will dissipate. The baby slows his howling and reaches a tiny hand out toward the broken man.

Magnus imagines Julia in their home, as she had stood at the end of their bed and pointed out the perfect place for a crib. The sound of her laughter as she vetoed one after another of Magnus’ name suggestions. The softness of the blanket she had wrapped around his shoulder. The one her mother had used when she was a baby. The one they had intended to wrap their firstborn in. When, in less than a month, they would start their family.

“Can I hold him.” His voice is foreign against his ears, trembling. The woman passes him carefully.

“Make sure you… Yep, now just support his head… and, just like that.” She coaches with gentle hands.

“Is this, alright?” She nods as Magnus adjusts his hand below the tiny head. “Hail and well met, little fellow.” Magnus whispers as he bounces the baby with slight, unaccustomed motions. “I’m Magnus and you’re… Angus. The son of the book binders.” Magnus’ memory sparks. He looks around for their somewhat familiar faces. “Where are his parents?”

“They didn’t make it either.” Lettie’s voice comes from close behind him.

“You’re alone, huh?” Magnus shifts his hold to free a hand. He waves a finger out so the little fingers on Angus’ hand can wrap around. Magnus feels the emptiness where the heat had been fill up with something new. A sliver of hope.

 

 

Magnus rests his head against the rocking chair and closes his eyes. He breathes in the still comfort of his simple life in a small cottage in the woods. The door opens and three sets of feet come through; the heeled tapping of tall boots, the plod of dwarven sandals, and the familiar patter of small feet. There is talking in the hall but Magnus pays no mind.

“Would you be proud of me, Jules? I think I’m doing ok, not as good as we would have been together but- I’m doing ok. The kid’s real good, Julia. Smarter than me! But that’s not hard. He’s probably the world’s best detective, just the other day he-”

“Papa?” A high pitched voice from across the room. “Who’re you talkin’ to?”

“The most beautiful woman I have _ever_ known.” Magnus allows her image to disappear as he opens his eyes to see Angus, now a small boy of five years old, staring from the doorway. Magnus motions for him to come closer. Angus smiles and runs across the wooden floor he had laid. Magnus scoops the boy up and over his head while his tiny laugh fills the room. He settles him back into his lap and rests a hand against his back. “Did you have a good day with your uncles?”

“Uncle Taako’s gonna show me magic!” Angus angles his head upward to look at Magnus.

“That’s gonna be super cool.” Magnus squeezes his son to his body, endlessly thankful that neither of them had to be alone.

“Hey, Papa?”

“Yeah buddy?”

“Why does the chair smell like Grandmas?”

**Author's Note:**

> And so Ren finally enters the TAZ fic collection in the only way she knows how; angst. Thank you for reading! I'm hoping to get more into TAZ writing so keep an eye out for other work (Blupjeans and Magnulia mostly probably)


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